Zafar Qureshi tried to dictate court: Moonis Elahi's counsel

Lahore (September 06, 2011) District & Sessions Judge Mujahid Mustaqim acting in the capacity of Special Judge Banking Court had adjourned the NICL case hearing on the FIA’s request till September 17. Earlier in today’s proceedings Moonis Elahi’s lawyer during his arguments urged the Honourable Court that if the FIA was being unduly facilitated to appoint a new prosecutor and present a new challan then his client should also be given the due relief denied to him thus far. 

He further argued that in Zafar Qureshi’s request to the Honourable Court nowhere had he asked for a full month to complete the investigation. Moonis Elahi’s lawyer strongly objected to the language used by Zafar Qureshi in his letter addressed to the Honourable Court. He said that the tone and tanner of the said letter was such that it seemed Zafar Qureshi was giving orders to the court and doing so was in his jurisdiction. 

He said that according to contents of the said letter the Honourable Court was nothing more than a post office. The Honourable Court reprimanded the FIA officials for continuously changing the agency’s representative in the course of the proceedings. The Honourable Court instructed the FIA to appoint a permanent representative to be present in the proceedings. On the Court’s inquiry that how much more time did the FIA require to complete the investigation, the FIA officials forwarded an application requesting for one month to complete the task.

Later talking to the media, Moonis Elahi’s lawyer Rai Bashir Ahmad accused Zafar Qureshi of taking undue advantages of the importance given to him by Supreme Court. He further accused Zafar Qureshi of leveraging the Supreme Court’s importance to dictate his own orders to the Lower Courts. He alleged Zafar Qureshi of blackmailing the courts and said that this was neither in the judiciary’s interest nor in the interest of the public. He said that Moonis Elahi to express his faith in the country’s law and the judiciary’s capacity to dispense justice had returned voluntarily from England which had no extradition treaty signed with Pakistan. A large number of Pakistan Muslim League’s supporters were present in the court throughout the day’s proceedings where senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League Moonis Elahi was brought in an armored vehicle amid high security.